Vaccination of mice and cattle with plasmid DNA encoding the Mycobacteriumbovis antigen MPB83

A scientific review of bovine tuberculosis in Great Britain has concluded t hat the development of a cattle vaccine holds the best prospect for long-te rm disease control, Recent reports of successful DNA vaccination against My cobacterium tuberculosis in small animal models have raised the possibility of using a similar strategy to produce vaccines against Mycobacterium bovi s infection in cattle. To test this possibility, BALB/c mice were immunized with DNA encoding the M, bovis antigen MPB83, The mice responded to vaccin ation with a mixed IgG1/IgG2a response to the antigen and were protected fr om intravenous challenge with virulent M. bovis to a similar extent as thos e vaccinated with bacille Calmette-Guerin. The immunogenicity of the DNA va ccine in cattle was tested, after having established that DNA encoding MPB8 3 was immunogenic and elicited protective immunity in mice. In these studie s, vaccinated animals had strong proliferative responses to MPB83.